Town Square

America's Cup Sailing Contest

Original post made
by Paul Losch, Community Center,
on Sep 27, 2013

I go sailing from time to time in the SF Bay, actually have taken lessons.

I was completely in awe of these two cats that competed in the final competitions in the tie breaker. The design for these crafts had them flying with small rudders navigating the water, while neither of the cats have their hulls in the water. A site to behold.

There also was a great deal of strategy. Team USA could not have come back from a major win-loss gap of 8-1 to take the win without some very smart thinking between races.

Work commitments prevented me from attending the actual event. And I was delighted to find some sites on line that do a great job showing the visuals. Very dynamic.

Posted by resident
a resident of College Terrace
on Sep 27, 2013 at 5:31 pm

It was fun to watch for us non-residents who got to watch for free. I feel for the SF taxpayers who got stuck with the bill. I was shocked that Larry played hardball with the city for costs that would have been pocket change for him.

It would have been more interesting if the boats were filled by nationals, exclusively, instead of internationals. How can anyone suggest that the Oracle boat was a home-team boat? I think I heard that nationality rules used to be in place...what happened to them?

Posted by resident
a resident of College Terrace
on Sep 27, 2013 at 5:44 pm

Apparently, the winner of the last race writes the rules for the next race, so Larry could require national teams for the next race if he really wanted to. Hard to believe he would choose to do that, though.

On the other hand, I don't hear anyone calling for the 49ers or Giants to field an all-local team.

Posted by resident
a resident of College Terrace
on Sep 27, 2013 at 5:48 pm

I think the biggest thing Larry has to do for the next race is find a way to get more teams to participate. Only 3 challenging teams showed up this year, which really limited the international audience and also made the early rounds pretty boring. In fact, Oracle could have easily lost 9-1 in the finals and then the whole event would have been a joke. Everyone (except the New Zealanders) was really lucky that Oracle found a way to put together their winning streak over the last week.

Posted by A funny thing happened...
a resident of Community Center
on Sep 28, 2013 at 12:31 pm

Strange, considering that Team Oracle was cited for cheating just over a week ago! I have a feeling that there may be more cheating by Larry Ellison, who seems to be the kind of guy who would stop at nothing to win.

Posted by anonymous
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Oct 1, 2013 at 4:27 pm

I was just in the UK and caught some BBC radio reports reflecting pride that Sir (name)- accomplished English gentleman top sailor was hired at the last minute to captain the Oracle boat. Talk about buying your way to a victory!
I'm not sure they would have bothered to report on this event from San Fran otherwise.